Sweet Dreams
by Tuesday Rivers
Summary: A mega crossover between Labyrinth, Inception, Nightmare on Elm St and the Sandman series. Sarah has moved away from home to Elm St, where Freddy finds out she has another presence in her dreams. A worried roommate calls in some dream specialists.
1. Some useful notes

Useful notes for people not familiar with all the fandoms. I don't know why you would be reading this story if you're not, but I'm glad you are!

**Labyrinth**

Plot summary:  
>Sarah (aged 14) is left babysitting her little brother Toby. But the baby keeps crying and Sarah, while telling him a story to make him sleep, wishes that the goblins would come and take him away. The goblin king hears her wish, and steals the child and brings him to his castle in the middle of a labyrinth. Sarah has to rescue him within thirteen hours, or the baby will become a goblin. Little did she know that the Goblin King, Jareth, had fallen in love with her. He offered to marry her, and she refused, triumphing over the labyrinth once and for all, escaping with her brother, and the friends she had met along the way.<br>This story occurs several years after the end of the film, Sarah is now at university, studying drama and directing.  
>She is the same age as Ari, her roommate.<p>

**Inception**

Plot summary:  
>A team of thieves can steal ideas from people's sleeping minds, by entering their dreams using a device called a PASIV.<br>Ending:  
>Assume that the top fell over, and the ending was exactly what it seemed. Otherwise a sequel would be very confusing.<p>

**A Nightmare on Elm Street**

Freddy Krueger, once the feared Springwood Slasher, was burned to death and gained the power to kill the children of the people who killed him in their dreams, where they can not be protected. Having revenged his own death, he now haunts the dreams of the teenagers living on Elm Street.

**Sandman**

The Endless, a family of seven beings who control each aspect of human (and non-human) life: Destiny, Death, Dream, Destruction, Desire, Despair and Delirium.  
>We are concerned with Dream. This Dream is not the first incarnation of Dream, but he was a sort of apprentice to the original Dream, called Morpheus.<br>His companions include Matthew, a talking raven who was once a man, and the Corinthian, a serial killer with mouths replacing his eyes. Lucien used to be a raven, but now runs Dream's library, and Eve is the mother figure for all of creation.

Beta'd by Triever and silvermoon822 of deviantArt.

**Disclaimer**:  
>Roses Red<br>Violets Blue  
>Me no own<br>So you no sue


	2. In which things are not what they seem

'Sarah?'

'Yeah?'

'Your, uh, crystal ball is ringing...'

'I don't have a crystal ball...'

'You do now. This one's calling for a Sarah Williams, so it's not mine.'

There was silence as Sarah considered what she should do.

'Shit.' She came downstairs to pick it up. Ari was right, it was calling her name. 'Nice one, Jareth,' she muttered. 'You couldn't just knock on the door like anyone else. Nooo, it had to be the creepy floaty crystal ball thing. Even owl post would have been better...'

Suddenly, the crystal started to glow, and it heated up. Sarah dropped it in surprise. It floated at head height, and began to speak.

'Sarah?' His voice was the same and always, deep and almost on the verge of bursting into tears. 'I... I need to meet with you. No trickery, no games. Just you. I have something that I need to say, and you need to hear. If you go to sleep, I will meet you in your dreams. Until then, Farewell. I... I hope you will agree to meet me.'

While the voice was the same, the tone was completely different. It had lost its commanding, arrogant edge, and in its place was something Sarah could not quite identify. Maybe he was crying. This had to be seen to be believed.

Sarah called down to her flatmate. 'Ari! I'm going to bed!

'But we were going to watch The Exorcist!' Ari called up. 'I thought you wanted to see it?'

'It'll give me nightmares; I think I'll just turn in early.'

'You're such a boring flatmate!'

'You're the one trying to warp my mind with all these scary films!

'Ah, touché! Sweet dreams!'

'I hope so,' Sarah muttered. 'I really do.'

Jareth again, after all these years? She had not forgotten those thirteen hours in his labyrinth, nor forgiven them. Well, some of them. In hindsight, it was quite a lot of fun. Admittedly not the peach dream - now that, she had not forgiven - or the disturbing confession. He had no power over her? That had been a lie. But he had less with each passing day, as the memories of him faded. Meeting him was probably a bad idea. She was going to do it anyway: he wanted to meet inside a dream. What could happen in a dream?

She showered and put on her best labyrinth-solving clothes, although that probably wouldn't help, he would just conjure up a dress again. At least this time she would fill it out, she thought with a smile. She fell asleep with a little anticipation, and more than a little anxiety.

Sarah fell straight into the heart of Labyrinth this time, no trickery with doors or mazes. At least he wasn't playing with her any more. She walked over to the castle gates, but they were taller than she had remembered. In fact, the whole place seemed more forbidding, more imposing. And had it always been red? She went to open the gates, but they were locked. She sighed with frustration, then shouted.

'You said you wanted to talk!'

A familiar voice came from behind her. 'Oh, I want so much more than that...' In a flash of his red cloak, he pounced, pushing her against a wall that she was sure hadn't been behind her before. His face moved in on hers, trying to kiss her. With a fleeting thought - I should never have expected any different - she recovered her balance and headbutted him square on the bridge of his nose. Almost as an afterthought, she kneed him in the balls. Hard. He doubled over, his face contorting with rage - or just contorting? She twisted away, but he had hold of her hair and pushed her against the wall again, holding her arms against the wall, which was a lot hotter and lumpier than it had been. She looked around again, and the Labyrinth was gone.

In its place was a hot, low ceilinged boiler room, the walls lined with pipes and the floor shrouded in oily smoke. She jerked in surprise, sending her forwards, towards Jare- not Jareth? Her attacker was certainly not the king of the goblins, although he could have been mistaken for a goblin. He was shorter than most men, but still had a good six inches on Sarah, and his face was horribly burned, his face was a giant mess of scar tissue and rage. Sarah recoiled in horror. Unable to breathe and unable to struggle, she felt his hands moving over her, or at least one hand, the other felt more like a knife. She lost her last shred of composure, and screamed like she had never screamed before.

'You do realise no one can hear you when you're asleep?' His voice was rough, and his laughter was more like a coughing fit than any laughter she had ever heard before. His face contorted into a grimace of vicious triumph, then with a crack, he slackened. He fell to the ground, revealing a very worried looking Jareth holding a plank of wood. Sarah finally breathed again, although uneasily.

'Sarah,' he smiled. Then his face straightened. 'Run.'


	3. In which there is running

Running _with_ Jareth through the Labyrinth, now that was new. But he was far too worried to allow Sarah time to recover, and he was too fast. Those boots didn't slow him down at all. Sarah struggled to keep up on the straight sections, but after they had left the boiler room he seemed to not know where he was at all, and she caught him up at the junctions.

'Don't you know the way out of your own damned maze?

'It's not my labyrinth, Sarah, it's his. I have no idea where we are going. This is your dream, take us somewhere safe!' Even in expressing ignorance, he was irritatingly superior.

'Me? How the hell am I supposed to do that? And why should I listen to you? You got me into this mess!'

'I can't explain here, it's not safe. Just concentrate.'

'Somewhere safe? Where's safe?'

'Take us-' he put a hand on either side of her face. Before she could protest, her vision was taken over by an image of a blue ballroom stretching farther than the eye could see with stained glass windows hanging in nothing over a pale pink floor. There was a throne at one end on a walkway like a golden rainbow. 'Take us there,' he finished.

She slapped at his hands. 'Get out of my head!'

'Please, Sarah, we need to leave now!' The 'please' clinched it. If he was begging, the situation was serious. With a nagging feeling that she didn't know what she was doing, Sarah closed her eyes, and concentrated on the room she had seen. There was a sensation of the world moving through her, and they were there. It was empty.

'Where the bloody hell is he?' fumed Jareth.

'Who?'

'The only person who can possibly help us.'

'Help us? This is ridiculous! I'm not leaving here until you explain what's going on, and I'm certainly not leaving with iyou!/i' The contempt in her voice made Jareth wince. 'I hardly think I could be in more danger that I am, here, with YOU.'

'I would be happy to explain your predicament.' A young man in white entered. The first thing Sarah noticed about him was his black eyes that seemed to open onto a void. Perhaps they did. He was dressed in a white kimono with strange armour over his shoulders. The only colour on his person was an emerald half the size of Sarah's fist on a thick chain around his neck. His voice was accentless, and almost expressionless.

'And unfortunately, almost everything here is more dangerous than your escort.'

Ari was watching the film when she started hearing noises from upstairs. At first she thought it was just horror-movie-paranoia, but when she heard Sarah scream, she went to investigate.

Upstairs, Sarah was thrashing around, asleep. Ari shook her, she did not wake. Ari slapped her. Still no response. A combination of the two techniques was equally ineffective.

'Ah, shit,' she said, with far more venom than usual. She whipped out her mobile and dialled the first contact.

'Ariadne! So nice to hear fro-

'Arthur, no time to explain, grab Eames and get here, now. We have a dream emergency!'

'Where are you?

'Springwood, Ohio, at 1320 Elm St. Flat F.'

'I can be there in an hour.'

'We need you sooner.'

'I'll see what we can do.'


	4. In which we introduce another fandom

Jareth stepped forward. 'Your predecessor granted me a boon, in exchange for a certain... irritating faerie named-'

'Cluracan, yes, I recall. And you wondered whether these favours were transferrable? Of course.' Jareth looked surprised. 'I am well aware of the situation regarding this Krueger.'

'Krueger?' Sarah blurted out. 'As in _Freddy Krueger_? He's just an urban legend. He gets into people's brains and kills them in their... dreams...' And then she realised where she was. 'Shit. Wait, why don't I just wake up?

'His presence, combined with yours,' he turned to Jareth, 'And mine too, I'm afraid, we all make it rather difficult for your mind to detach from the dreaming. As long as Krueger remains, you will not wake up without an intervention in the waking world.' Sarah thought of Ariadne, probably watching TV with the volume right up - it's the only way to watch scary movies - and thought that any intervention would be highly unlikely. Dream continued. 'Any injuries he inflicts will be visited upon you in the waking world. I have never encountered a creature like him before, a beast of nightmare, but not of dream.'

'Why is he here?' demanded Jareth, 'Why her?'

'I believe that her fear makes him stronger. When did you hear about him?'

'Last night... Ari and I got some beers and told scary stories. I slept like a log, must have drunk too much. Didn't dream, thank god.'

The young man smiled. 'On that note, I believe I should introduce myself. I am Dream of the Endless, Prince of stories, ruler of all that is imagined, and the lord of this realm. Nice to meet you, Sarah Williams.'

Sarah was so stunned it was all she could do not to gape. There was only one thing she could think of to do. With Jareth's jealousy palpable behind her, she curtseyed.

Ariadne was shaken out of her daze by a ring of the doorbell. Then a second. Then a third. Then they gave up and just knocked on the door repeatedly. She hopped over to the door and opened it.

'Eames!'

'Ariadne!' he exclaimed, throwing his arms around her in a bear hug. 'It's good to see you again.' Arthur came in, unchanged since the trip back from Paris, followed by a tall blond guy carrying the PASIV.

'Wait, wait, who's this guy?'

Arthur winced. 'I was hoping that it wouldn't come up like this, but-'

'You've been replaced!'

'Eames!' Arthur chided.

'What? Replaced? Why?' asked Ariadne, bemused and irritated.

'Look, it's only temporary,' Arthur tried to smooth the situation. 'You were the one who decided you didn't want to work with us until you had qualified. We couldn't do nothing for four years, so we needed a new architect. Scott, this is Ariadne, Ariadne this is Scott.'

'Hi.' Embarrassed, Scott stuck out his hand. Ariadne shook it. 'I think I know you, you're a couple of years below me, the girl who transferred from Paris?'

'Yeah, I have seen you around, final year, right?' Scott nodded.

'I'm studying civil engineering, so I've worked on the PASIV as well as dream layouts. I developed these.' He held up his wrist to show a large black watch with no face on, just a button. 'These send a pulse to the main linkup, and wake you up instantly. Unfortunately, the only work one dream level in, but that shouldn't be too much of a problem.' Eames and Arthur had one too. Arthur passed her a spare.

'Well if we're all done standing here and showing off, I believe we have a damsel in distress?' said Eames with a smile.

'Yes of course.' Ariadne had almost forgotten. 'Come upstairs.'

'What in the name of hell did you think you were doing telling her about Krueger?' asked Eames.

'It was just a scary story I heard at uni,' Ariadne was indignant.

'No,' Arthur interrupted. 'He's real. I've been keeping a file on him - and on the other dream intruders - just in case we run into him. Ariadne, this is serious. Any injury you get in one of his dreams happens to your sleeping body. He can kill you while you sleep.'

'So when we get into the dream, do _not_ shoot me to wake me up.' That was Eames.

Scott hooked up the PASIV, first to Sarah, then to the rest of them. They sat on the floor next to Sarah's bed. 'I'll give us a couple of hours in the dream, but we can always hit the emergency stop if we need out. But if you hit the link now, Sarah will wake up too and the dream will collapse, and Freddy will escape. Totems?'

'Check.'

'Check.'

'Yes.'

'Then let's go.' Arthur hit the button on the PASIV and the familiar feeling of drowsiness and dizziness washed over them, and they were asleep.


	5. In which we meet a freak

'So you control dreams?' asked Sarah, still trying to get a handle on yet another bizarre world she had fallen into.

'I embody them.'

'But I always thought dreams were subjective, Ari always said-

'Most dreams are, but particularly powerful dreamers, like you, dream more tangibly than others.' He paused. 'Ari? Would I know her?'

'Ariadne-'

No sooner had Sarah said the name that she arrived, followed by the others, with a distinctly undramatic plopping sound.

'Ah,' said Dream. 'The Dream team.'

'You've heard of us?' asked Eames.

'Yes, you three have somewhat of a celebrity status here. I spoke to Cobb a while ago; he mentioned that he was planning on retiring. It would seem that he succeeded.'

'Yes, he's back in the States now,' Arthur said. 'He said that if he could help it, he was never going to dream again. Uh, no offence.'

'None taken,' said Dream with a smile. 'Would you send him my best wishes?'

'Of course,' replied Arthur. It seemed to Ariadne that they knew each other, but Arthur had never mentioned it to her before. She would have to ask Eames, he knew everything about Arthur, and Arthur knew everything about everything else.

After Sarah had introduced Ariadne to Jareth, the group fell into the sort of awkward silence you only get when one member of the conversation is a jealous king, and another is effectively omnipotent.

'So...' All heads turned to Eames, which for him was nothing new, except that one of them didn't have eyes. Eames coughed and inspected his fingernails.

'This Krueger guy,' said Sarah, getting straight to business. 'How do we kill him?'

'Kill him?' Dream looked surprised. 'I am... unaccustomed to killing.' His faint, judgemental frown annoyed Sarah beyond words.

'You didn't see him. He wasn't...' She held her hand no more than an inch or two from her face, turning her head away from them, remembering. 'He was right there. By my face. It's my dream, I could hear his mind. I heard... I heard... No. He has to die.' Jareth put his arm around her, she stiffened and moved away, wrapping her arms around herself.

'As I said, I am unaccustomed to killing, but I know someone who may be able to help you. Matthew?' he called. 'Could you send him in? I do hope you're not squeamish.'

The doors to the throne room opened, and an unassuming young man stepped in, in a white t-shirt, a battered leather jacket and a large pair of round sunglasses. He walked over to Dream, flanked by a raven.

'Thank you Matthew.'

'Sure thing, boss,' said the raven. Sarah was hardly surprised any more. It perched on Dream's shoulder.

The man in the shades bowed to Dream, who nodded. He took off the glasses. Empty mouths lined with tiny teeth grinned out at them from his eye sockets.

'Pleased to meet you,' he said. 'I'm the Corinthian.'


	6. In which plans are made

Ariadne screamed. Eames put his hand over his mouth. Arthur went almost as pale as Dream. Sarah turned away, burying her face in Jareth's cloak. Jareth put his arm around her, not entirely displeased at the turn of events.

The Corinthian looked away from them and put his dark glasses back on. If you looked really hard (and of course you couldn't look iaway/i) you could still see the light glinting off his eye teeth. 'I'm sorry,' he said. 'I'm not really used to humans yet.'

'I'm sorry, I should have warned you. I did not realise he would have that effect on you,' said Dream. 'He is my best warrior. He will aid you in your-' Dream broke off, clutching his chest. Sarah ran to him. He looked a little young for a heart attack, she thought. If he had a heart. Dream sank to the ground. The Corinthian held his head as he slowly curled into a ball, clutching his chest.

'Krueger is- AARGH' he convulsed. 'He's attacking the heart of the dreaming, but it's- it's my heart too.' He grimaced. 'I can hold him off, but I can only do it for so long, and I... I didn't know it would hurt this much. You have to stop him. He's up by the cliffs. Help me!' his face was contorted in pain.

The Corinthian took off his jacket and put it under his head. 'Matthew, fetch Lucien and Eve, they'll know what to do. I'm going after that bastard.'

'You're going?' asked Sarah. 'You mean we are.'

'You? What can you do? I'll be better off by myself.'

'We're all coming, whether you like it or not.' Arthur took charge. 'Krueger is a danger to us all.'

The Corinthian snarled with distaste, but Dream beckoned him over. 'They can help you, you may need them. And Matthew?' The raven flew down and perched next to him. 'Go with them. I need you to keep an eye on the Corinthian.' Both the raven and the killer protested, but Dream continued. 'Those humans are _off limits_. Especially Arthur. Now, please, hurry.'

So Dream had noticed too. He did have wonderful eyes.

A woman in a long dress and a remarkably tall man with odd hair - presumably Eve and Lucien, thought Sarah - hurried over to dream. Arthur waylaid the woman.

'We need to get to the nightmare cliffs. How do we get there?'

Eve gave them directions.

'Let's go.'

'Just follow the stream, she said. It'll be no trouble, she said,' complained Jareth, up to his knees in freezing mud. The stream had flooded, the sky had darkened, and heavy rain had begun to fall. Matthew was flying above him. Matthew had been trailing the Corinthian, but the sulking got on his nerves too much, and no one seemed to be in any immediate danger, so he hung back.

'The boss can't be well, lettin' a psycho barge in like that and just change things... And Merv'll have to re-landscape the whole valley. He's gonna be pissed, he hates doing nightmares...'

'Oh, stop your grumbling, at least you've got wings,' replied Jareth, still annoyed about the mud.

'Can't you turn into an owl?' asked Sarah.

'With everything changing around me I'd be lucky to keep all my limbs. And I'm not leaving you alone with _him_.' He nodded at the figure of the Corinthian, trudging on ahead.

'I heard that,' the Corinthian called back. 'Stop complaining.'

'I love it when you take me on holiday, darling, you really do pick the most charming spots.'

'It's just mud, Eames,' replied Arthur.

'It _looks_ like mud, sure, but I saw a dragon back there and I'll bet you we're up to our knees in its shi-'

'It's just mud.'

'Arthur, what's up? You haven't been yourself since we got the call from Ariadne.'

'This Corinthian guy.' Arthur seemed hesitant, as though he would rather not say this aloud. 'I have a file on him too. He's a nightmare. I'd never met one before, it was a shock, that's all.'

'A nightmare? He seems okay. Well, apart from the scary eyes and the sulk, he seems like an okay guy.'

Arthur wheeled on Eames. 'Do you know what those eyes are for? He's not just a nightmare, he's a killer. He cuts out people's eyes and _eats them_. _With his eyes._ He even got out of the dreaming a while back, I can't remember when. Killed people for years.' Eames had nothing to say. 'And then there's that other guy, Jareth. He's some sort of king. Kidnapped a kid. I don't know what happened, the records were patchy. And you wonder why I'm jumpy? We're way out of our depth.'

They continued the journey in silence, the ground slowly getting steeper and the mud getting deeper. The Corinthian raised his gaze from his feet and looked forwards - and up. The ground rose up vertically about fifty metres in front of him into a cliff. The flooded stream was flowing down it as though it were flat. Set back into the cliff was a rusty metal door with a round locking wheel in the centre.

'I'm sure that wasn't here yesterday. He's gotta be in there. It's not exactly subtle. I mean, geez, its like painting a target on himself,' said Matthew from high above.

'Unless he wants us to come in.' Arthur's mood had not improved.

'Arthur, you'll scare Sarah!' said Scott, far too fast for it to be Sarah who was scared.

'And the prospect of a sadistic killer taking up residence in my head won't? It's more important to know his plans,' Sarah came back immediately.

'But we don't know his plans, that's the point,' said Arthur, insistently.

'Look, there must be a back entrance somewhere. Corinthian, you know the layout of this place; do you think you can find it? Do you want any help?' Arthur frantically gestured - no! - behind his back.

'It might take me a while on my own, Arthur, is it?' He turned to Arthur, who immediately went poker-faced. 'Could you come with me?' The Corinthian looked into his eyes. Eames shivered.

'Uh, of course.'

'I'll come too,' said Eames quickly. 'In case you need backup.' This last was said more to Arthur than the Corinthian, but he didn't notice.

'Thank you.' Arthur breathed a sigh of relief.

Arthur had to make a decision: take Ariadne with them (with a known killer) or let her go in with Sarah (to face a known killer). It came down to who he thought she would be in more danger with. He made the wrong call.

'Ariadne, why don't you and Scott stay with Jareth and Sarah?'

'All right gang,' came Jareth's sarcastic voice. 'Let's split up and look for clu- Ahh!' Sarah had very sharp elbows.

'Just for that,' said Sarah, 'You can go first.'

Ariadne hugged Arthur and Eames, and they set off, leaving Jareth, Sarah, Ariadne and Scott clustered around the door.


	7. In which they go in

'Well, let's get this over with,' said Scott in a vey small voice. He made a grab for the wheel lock on the door, but let go very quickly and ran to stick his hands in the muddy stream. 'S'hot...' he mumbled.

Jareth stepped forward, grabbed the wheel and turned. The door hissed open, as though it was pressurised, and a bout of dark smoke made them all jump backwards. Jareth turned to Sarah with a grin, and held up his hands. He was wearing black leather gloves, which now looked slightly worse for wear. 'They don't just look good!' He wiggled his fingers and smirked. Sarah rolled her eyes and walked through the door. As soon as she was out of his range of vision, Jareth stuck his hands under his arms and muttered 'Oww'. He shook his hands and looked inside.

It was like looking through a portal to hell. Inside was a long corridor. It was dark and smoky, lit with red light emanating from every crack. The walls were covered with pipes, and the pipes were covered in dirt. The ceiling was low, and somewhere, machinery was running, the humming seemed to shake the whole room.

Once they had all come through the door, it creaked shut behind them, then vanished, leaving a sheet of metal in its place.

'I guess there's nowhere to go but forwards,' said Ariadne, somewhat unnecessarily. They walked along the corridor, their progress impeded every couple of metres by a jet of smoke blasting out of the floor. At the end, they reached what looked like a brick wall the smoke cleared, revealing two smaller rooms, filled with unidentifiable machinery. They looked the same to Sarah, so she picked one at random and went in.

She looked behind her to see a stretch of blank wall where the path had been only seconds before. She hit it in disbelief. 'This is worse than your damned labyrinth!'

'Of course it's worse,' replied Jareth. 'I was never trying to kill you.'

'Oh yeah? The bog? The cleaners? The giant fighting robot thing?'

'Never, Sarah.'

'I don't! Believe! You!' She punctuated each word with a blow on the wall, then slid down and fought back tears. Scott went over and tried to console her.

'It's okay Sarah-'

'No.' Ariadne had interrupted him. 'It's not okay. Lying to her won't help. It's not okay, but we can make it right. Right now will be the only chance we have to get rid of the psycho inside your head. Scott and I have these-' she held up the PASIV link watch. 'If we grab him, then hit this button, we can drag him out of the dream and into the real world. We might not be able to defeat him on his terms, but out there, reality rules. And so will we.'

Sarah looked up and wiped her eyes. 'You're right. We have to move on. I beat one labyrinth; I can beat some shitty boiler room maze!' She sounded more confident than she felt. 'What's some scarred freak to the entire goblin army?'

Scott looked incredulous. He turned to Jareth. 'You sent an army after her?'

'Not all of it...' It was hardly an excuse, and he knew it.

'And she hasn't told you to go to hell? Wow...'

By then, Sarah was back on her feet. 'Okay team, let's go!'

'Wait, what did you mean, wow?' But Scott was following Sarah, who was moving out into a maze of metal walkways.

The walkways were all identical, with pipes on a wall to the left, and a broken railing to the right. It was as though the maze designer had run out of imagination and just stuck the same thing together over and over again, in a haphazard mess. They seemed to float over a red oblivion. Sarah stepped out onto the first one.

'Come on, we need to stick together!' Jareth caught up, trying to shake Scott's strange remark out of his head.

'Wait, Sarah! Let me go first. In case anything happens.' Sarah was annoyed at being patronised, but she didn't want to turn a corner suddenly and run into Krueger again. Common sense took over, and she let Jareth in front of her. Common sense and not the fact that Jareth was wearing the same tight pants as before. Not that at all.

The first corner bent round to the right, they could see it was clear, but the second bent to the left, and anything could be hiding behind it. They lined up against the wall, trying to keep away from the hot pipes and avoid being seen by something on the other side.

Jareth fished around in his cloak, and pulled out a crystal ball like the one he had sent the message on. 'I can see through this, give it a moment.' He waved his hands in a fast gesture where they seemed to pass through each other, and the crystal hung in the air. Slowly, unsteadily, it floated out into the middle of the walkway and out in front of the unseen passage.

'I think the coast is cle-aargh!'

A hand had shot out, grabbed the crystal and crushed it. Jareth winced.

A rough voice came from round the corner. 'Got you by the balls now!'

'Shit!' yelled Scott. 'Get back!' But there was no back. The walkway behind them had been cut off. If Ariadne had taken a step back, she would have fallen onto a walkway below. 'Maybe we can jump!' As soon as he said that, walls appeared on all sides, trapping them. Freddy Krueger stepped out from behind the corner and laughed his guttural laugh.

Jareth lost control completely. His face contorted in a snarl, he grabbed Freddy by the shoulders and shook him. _'Krueger you bastard get out of her head!'_

Freddy Krueger looked at him, grabbed him by the front of his ridiculous shirt and cocked his head to the side. 'Or what?' Sarah heard a metallic noise, and saw blades come out of Jareth's back. And blood. Lots of blood.

'Jareth!' she screamed. Freddy looked over Jareth's shoulder and smirked. He let his body slide off the claw and onto the floor, where he faded out of the dream. Sarah fell to the floor and screamed. Scott whipped out a pistol from his belt and unloaded a full magazine into Freddy.

Who raised his eyebrow, and kept on coming.

'These aren't your dreams any more, boy. They're _mine_.' With that, he slashed out at Scott's chest. Scott twisted and fell to the ground, rattling the metal grille on the floor.

Ariadne had run to the back of the room, trying to create a door, but she had never created anything in a dream before, only planned from outside. The door kept opening onto a mirror.

Freddy stepped over Scott and looked her up and down, laughing. He ignored her and was moving in on the increasingly hysterical Sarah, when the floor stared shaking. Freddy looked around. 'What th-'

A door had appeared behind Sarah. It was blue. It was glittery. It opened, and a bloodstained arm came out and dragged Sarah in. the door shut behind it.

'-the _fuck_?'


	8. In which stairs are dangerous

Sarah fell through the door and onto an identical metal grille floor on the other side. She looked up, certain that whatever had her now could only be worse than what she had left behind. She looked up to see -

'Jareth?'

'The one and only,' he said, and helped her up. His white shirt was flecked with blood, but he had no visible wounds.

'You're... not dead?'

'It appears not. I merely found myself back in my castle, so I came back here. I assume it is some facet of goblin magic I have never needed before.'

'And here I was thinking you were going to be helpful.'

'I saved your life!'

'You left them behind! Scott was wounded, and-' she broke off as a scream echoed around the room, which was yet another boiler room walkway. 'Oh my God, that was Ari,' she said in a very small voice. 'We have to find her!'

'I can't possibly let you-'

'Let me what? She came here to save me. I owe her. I'm going.'

Jareth smiled ruefully. 'Still as stubborn as ever, I see. We'd better get going, then.' He held out his hand.

Sarah took it, and they ran in the direction of the scream.

Freddy Krueger paused, startled by the door he did not create. He tried to open it, but it would not budge.

Ariadne knew she could not do magic, no matter what she had created in the past, and gave up on trying to create a door. She went over to Scott, who was slowly getting up. He had worked his way up into a sitting position, but was too weak to stand. Ariadne bent to pick him up, and when she straightened up again, Freddy Krueger was gone. Ariadne looked around, suspecting a trick, but the walkway had extended, they could escape!

With Scott on her shoulder they walked slowly, cautiously along the new walkway. 'Krueger!' she yelled, until Scott elbowed her in the ribs.

'Ow, you want me to drop you?'

'Don't call him!'

'If we want to stand any chance of beating him, we have to grab him and drag him out of the dream, but if we hit the button it will drag all of us out, leaving Sarah alone with him. We're the only ones with the links, Sarah can't wake up. We have to get to him before he gets to her.'

A flash of red caught their attention on one of the lower levels.

'We need to get down there!'

Ariadne pointed. 'Stairs at twelve o'clock! I can't carry you down there though.'

'It's okay, I think I can walk. Just let me-' Scott stood up, rather unsteadily, but didn't fall over. Ariadne got the feeling back in her shoulder and shook her arm.

'Man, you were heavy!'

'Hey, I'm standing up now, stop complaining.' He pointed. 'Stairs?'

'Stairs.'

Scott took the lead, Ariadne followed him, holding tightly onto the rail; she didn't trust any structure built by Krueger. She was right not to. As Scott got to the middle of the staircase, the stairs started to slide backward. He lost his balance, and tumbled forwards.

At the bottom of the staircase, a very smug Freddy was waiting for him, fingerknives outstretched. With a sick crunching noise, Scott landed on them. He stood there, impaled as Ariadne screamed. He seemed to notice her for the first time, and the handrail vanished. Ariadne slid down the side, frantically trying not to fall off the edge, spinning round, and in her desperation she hit her head on something and landed with her head at Freddy Krueger's feet. His bloody boots were all she could see as her vision faded, until Scott fell into view. His eyes were glazed. He was dead. Slowly, he faded out of the dream, leaving her alone with the maniac.

Her entire vision was taken up by Freddy Krueger's horrific, grinning face. His breath smelled as though he was still burning inside. She faded out of consciousness, when a sharp slap brought her round again. Freddy looked into her face and slapped her again. Realising that this was probably her only chance, she went to hit the PASIV link, but he grabbed her arms and held them over her head. He brought his gloved hand up to her hands, bringing their faces even closer together, and sliced the strap on the link watch. He picked it up, stood and tossed it over the edge of the walkway.

Ariadne's head was clearing - who knew that being slapped by a killer was more effective than smelling salts? Probably more people than had lived to tell the tale. She was blinking her way back to rationality, trying to sit up, but Krueger was on her again, dragging one of his blades down her face. She shuddered, and he laughed. She screamed like she had never screamed before. If it wouldn't make him stop, at least it might lead the others here to get him.

'Scream all you want, they won't find you.' Surely he couldn't read minds, thought Ariadne... Could he? 'I control this maze. I have the girl and her...strange... friend trapped in a closed loop. They can't find you, but when I'm done, I'll find them. And even if the strange one can't die here, he can still feel pain, so that should be... interesting. But enough about them, let's deal with _you_.' He dragged his gloved hand over her face, leaving a long but shallow cut over her eyebrow. She choked back a sob.

And then a voice rang out: _'GET OFF HER!'_

He was unceremoniously booted off her, and Ariadne looked up into the triple-snarling face of the Corinthian, which was almost worse.

Arthur hauled Krueger to his feet and had him in a headlock. Eames grabbed his gloved and, trying but failing to pull the weapon off him. Matthew, flying overhead, shit on his head and laughed. Eames hit his PASIV link and-


	9. In which they wake up

-and they were jolted back into the waking world, far too many people for Sarah's small bedroom. The only one not too disorientated to move was Freddy Krueger, who ran for the door. He flung it open, only to see Scott holding a gun on him.

'Not this time, you bastard.'

'No! Scott, don't-' that was the Corinthian.

Scott opened fire, and this time, the bullets made contact. Freddy jerked with each impact, fell to his knees, then forwards onto his face, his hat rolling off his head to rest at Scott's feet.

The Corinthian bent over the body, and Arthur winced, but he only examined it.

Ariadne ran over to Scott. 'You're... alive...' Realising as she said it that she was stating the obvious. He came to her and grabbed her in a bear hug.

'It must have been the PASIV. Great little invention, this.' He patted it fondly. 'Now, let's get a band-aid on that cut.' He pulled some steri-strips out of a compartment in the PASIV suitcase. 'I put these in too.'

Sarah was sitting silently on her bed, head in hands, trying to recover and put her mind back into place. Jareth sat down beside her, and put an arm around her. She tried to shrug it off again, but stopped and looked up at him.

'Your message. You said you wanted to talk to me?' Her voice was faint, and she was swaying with shock.

'I wanted... I wanted to say... It can wait. Right now you need to rest. Do you want to sleep?

'Yeah, but I don't know if I'll ever sleep again after that.' She sighed.

'I can help with that.' He conjured some glittering powder, and blew it in her face. She slumped immediately. He moved her hair off her face and turned round to find a very indignant Ariadne.

'What the hell did you think you were doing?'

'She needs to rest!' He threw his hands up in defense.

'That's _not_ what I meant. You just barge into her mind, invade when she's helpless. She couldn't say no, could she? You just sent a message and turned up. As soon as she slept, you'd be there whether she wanted you there or not, just like hi-'

'Ariadne,' he interrupted with a rueful smile. 'It was her dream. She could have thrown me out any time she wanted.'

Ariadne blustered.

'It's not over yet.' The Corinthian stood up. The body was gone.


	10. In which they go back in

'Well, shit,' said Eames.

'An accurate, if useless summary of our situation,' snarked back Arthur.

'I should have known,' continued the Corinthian. 'He's a creature of nightmare, it would only make sense that he would return to it in death.'

'So we can't kill him?' asked Arthur.

'Not in the real world, no.'

'But Sarah...' all heads turned to Sarah, asleep on the bed. Her head was shaking from side to side, as though she was struggling.

'Sarah!' Jareth leaned over and shook her. She wouldn't wake. He looked back up at them, almost pleading. 'I have to go back in.'

'We'll all go, we stand a better chance of beating him together.' Arthur was setting up the PASIV again.

'I'm sorry.' This was Scott. 'I can't go back in there. I can't. I died once; please don't ask me to do it again.'

'Okay, Scott, you control the PASIV from out here. Give Ariadne your link.'

Soon, they were asleep again.

Dream of the Endless watched as his throne room filled up with people. The Corinthian had told him about the death and subsequent return of this entity that called itself Freddy Krueger. He was starting to take these invasions personally.

'I think he'll be back by the nightmare cliffs.' The Corinthian was saying. 'He does seem to like returning to his old haunts. But he will have learned a new trick. Don't think that dream device will keep you safe again; he will have worked out how to get around it. We can't kill that bastard in a dream, we can't kill him in the waking world. It's time to get creative.'

Sarah knew that something was wrong as soon as Jareth blew the glitter in her face. She had found herself spiralling into heat and dark instead of cool sleep. She regained her balance in _the same damn boiler room._

Then it hit her. He wasn't dead. She wasn't safe.

Then he hit her, and she saw stars.


	11. In which there is a declaration of war

Sarah regained consciousness in a now-familiar corridor. The metal grille had left an imprint on the side of her face. She moved to rub it off but her hands and forearms were tied to one of the pipes with strips of red and green striped material. Her legs were tied even tighter. At least she wasn't gagged - she dreaded to think what that filthy material might taste like. With a fleeting thought - oh god I hope he has another jumper - she tried to scan her surroundings. Shrouded in smoke, close enough to give her a nasty shock when she turned her head, was Freddy Krueger. His fedora was a little more battered, and he was sharpening the blades attached to his hand, but he seemed unscarred by his most recent death.

'Krueger!' Sarah yelled. 'Let me go!'

'Oh well, since you ask so nicely I'll just untie you and be on my way I DON'T THINK. Just sit there and shut up.'

'Wait, why aren't I dead?'

'Do you want to be?' he snarled. 'I said shut up, bitch.'

Sarah considered her situation. 'I'm bait, aren't I?' she said slowly. 'You need me as bait, to draw the others in. But why not just wait for them to fall asleep? ...Because... They're a threat! Nothing has come close to killing you before, and they've got you running scared! You've got to kill them before they kill you!'

At this, Freddy cocked his head, stood up and advanced on her, his voice getting louder and coarser as he got closer. 'Do you really think no one has ever tried to kill me before? Do you think that better people than you haven't succeeded? I have died so many times and only come back stronger. A band of career criminals and a fairy are hardly a threat. You can not possibly beat me.' He was standing over her, shouting. Sarah had shrunk as far away from him as possible. She tried to turn away to hide her tears of terror and frustration. He smirked. 'So we wait. But don't worry. We can still have fun later. But for now, patience.' He left her hyperventilating and went back to his whetstone.

They sat like that for what seemed to Sarah like hours, until a familiar voice rang out.

'Krueger! This time it's war!'


	12. In which lots of stuff happens

Chapter 11

A shadow swept into the room. It was blue, it moved in a trail of white, shiny smoke and it had a faintly ridiculous high collar, with a shock of hair sticking over the top. It could only be one person.

'Jareth! Look out!' Sarah shouted, as Krueger disappeared, and reappeared behind him. Blades appeared through him. Jareth coughed, and disappeared, reappearing next to Sarah.

'It seems as though you can't kill me either. Shall we call it a draw?'

Krueger scowled and charged at him, slashing wildly. Sarah stuck her legs out and he stumbled. While he was distracted, Jareth punched him in the face. He almost toppled over the edge, but steadied himself before he hit the railing.

'Wow, that felt good!' He shook his hand and rubbed his knuckles. 'I've been relying on magic for _far_ too long...'

Krueger had recovered his balance, and slashed at Jareth, who took the blow ion his arm. Jareth stepped back, his arm held to his chest. Freddy Krueger grinned, and disappeared again. Without warning, his glove came out of nowhere and slashed at Jareth. He stepped back, but the blades caught a few strands of his hair. They fell to the floor.

'You bastard!' Jareth said to the glove. It settled back into what might have been a fighting pose, and beckoned him.

'Come on then!' Freddy's disembodied voice echoed around the room, and the glove came flying towards Jareth's head. Jareth grabbed it by the blades, a few inches from his face. Blood dripped from his fingers, but he managed to keep it away from his face. With a sudden jerk, the glove swiped to the side, taking several fingers, then moving in towards his unprotected neck.

He dematerialised in two pieces, rematerialised in one. He tried to untie Sarah's bonds. 'I'm sorry you had to see that.'

A shadow fell over them. 'I've figured it out,' Krueger said, and stabbed Jareth in the stomach with one blade, then stopped. 'You won't die for a while yet, until your stomach acid eats through to your internal organs.' Jareth fell to his knees, his face twisted in pain. 'That is, assuming you have stomach acid. Or internal organs, for that matter.' Jareth was lying on the floor, next to a weeping Sarah. 'Even if you don't, it's a nasty stab wound, isn't it?' He kicked Jareth and laughed, then kicked Sarah too, for good measure. Sarah had turned away, pressing her face to the wall; it was as far away from him as she could get.

'I guess the rescue attempt didn't go quite as well as you planned.' Krueger gloated.

As he said that, the sound of grinding metal made him turn around. Another walkway had dipped down opposite Sarah, revealing Eames and Arthur holding the biggest guns they could imagine. They opened fire, flinging Krueger against the wall, away from Sarah.

Arthur stopped for a moment, just long enough to put a bullet through Jareth's head. Jareth disappeared, then reappeared again, only to be cut down by Eames. He reappeared crouching down, below the line of fire, brushing down his bullet-hole-ridden cloak.

'Bastard told me he had better reflexes than that.' He continued where he had left off, untying Sarah, but the strips of material had retied themselves, tighter than before.

Freddy Krueger had come to rest against the wall; against all common sense, he was upright. Eames was bringing the two walkways closer together when the body teetered back onto its feet, hunched over like a zombie with its head flung forwards.

With a jerk, it straightened up, sending the bullets flying back in the direction they had come - straight at Eames and Arthur. Unable to dodge, they took several bullets each. One just grazed Arthur's temple, and he went down immediately. Eames leaned on the railing for support, trying but failing to put pressure on his shoulder and both legs at the same time.

'Hardly a dead shot, but it'll do,' grinned Freddy, healed again. 'And don't think your dream machine will save you this time. Tricks like that only work once.' He grabbed hold of a rope which hadn't been there a moment before and pulled the walkway closer to him.

But the more he pulled, the wider the gap seemed to get. The ominous red light and dark smoke was replaced with cleaner smoke with a slight greenish tinge. The burning smell and the machinery hum faded, as though the fires of hell had finally been doused.

A couple of indistinct white figure and a smaller dark one rose out of the smoke, seeming to stand on the smoke. It was Dream, flanked by the Corinthian on one side and Ariadne on the other. Krueger slashed out in frustration. His blades slashed through the Corinthian leaving no injury, no damage aside from three thin lines of rust on his t-shirt. Dream waved his hand, and even they were gone.

'It's over, Krueger. I can undo everything you have done. It will be like you never existed. Unless...' Here, Dream paused. 'While you are not my creation, I can offer you a part in it.'

'What?' Sarah shouted up at them, furious.

'If you wish, I can have a set of quarters created in Nightmare for you, but that's all you will be, a nightmare. No more killing, Krueger. It has to stop.'

Sarah was shouting at them, ignored. 'How can you offer him a way out? He can't- You can't-' Dream gestured at her, and her bonds were loosed. She almost collapsed onto the floor, but Jareth caught her just in time. She wrapped herself in his cape and he held her.

Dream had also cut off all of Krueger's escape routes. He stood on an isolated square, one step from oblivion in every direction. 'You want me to make a deal with you? You're just a kid! You look like a fucking ghost but you can't have more than a few years on you. I killed your kind when I was still human.' He grinned, recalling fond memories. 'You want to deal like an equal? Never.' He spat the last word with more contempt than Dream had ever contemplated.

'You don't think I am a threat,' Dream said flatly. It was a statement, not a question. 'Let me show you something.' He twisted his hands together, and when he pulled them apart again, a green bubble had appeared between them, glowing and humming slightly. It extended, deformed and grew. In a few seconds it was the size of a large dog. A few seconds more and it was twice the height of a man, floating above their head. It pulsed and grew longer, then spiralled and punched a hole in itself, popping into shape like a 3D möbius strip.

'Is that what I think it is?' came Arthur's very weak voice from around knee level.

'A recursive nightmare. Completely self contained. There's no waking up from this one. Last chance Krueger.'

Freddy Krueger leapt at him, and just as it seemed he was going to make it, the gap widened again and he hung in midair, unable to reach.

'That is a pity. You would have been a valuable addition to my arsenal.' He shrugged. 'Although I may find another use for you. It might take a while, though. Enjoy eternity.' And with that, the bubble twisted open to reveal rows of multifaceted shining teeth, moving around sinuously, catching the light. It closed around Krueger and shifted slightly - was it chewing? - and it shrunk to the size of a marble. Dream dropped it into a pocket and patted it.

With the disappearance of its maker, the walkways began to dissolve into formless grey space. They fell, some with more grace than others.

Ariadne shrieked and scrambled towards Dream, grabbing his foot. Sarah was still holding Jareth, who seemed oddly calm. Eames and Arthur were falling together, apparently unconscious. Their fall slowed, and they landed in Dream's throne room again.

Arthur and Eames had slumped in a heap. Ariadne came running towards them, but Dream had overtaken her.

'I apologise, I should have dealt with them sooner,' he said to Ariadne, as he waved his hands over them in a complicated sequence of gestures. The bullet wounds healed with a strange hissing sound, and they stood up in disbelief.

Eames patted himself down to make sure he was okay. Arthur shook hands with Dream. 'Thank you.' Dream nodded in reply.

Sarah extricated herself from Jareth's cloak, blushing hotly - she had no control over where she had landed, she told herself. She stretched. 'So he's really gone?' she asked.

Dream held up the marble. 'He's trapped in here. It's a nightmare, but every time he wakes, he will wake into the same nightmare. Infinitely recursive.

'A dream within itself,' Arthur added.

'So you're safe,' Jareth said. She sighed with relief and thanked Dream.

'Wait, where's the Corinthian?' Eames was suspicious.

'He's... uh, busy,' said Dream. 'But he won't bother you either. Any of you.'

And then she woke up. As an ending, she had always felt that it lacked a certain something, but considering the alternative, it would do.


	13. In which there is a reconciliation

Chapter 12

Back in Sarah's room, Scott was waiting for them. 'Thank God you're all right!' He hugged Ariadne as soon as she sat up, making her jump. Arthur and Eames wake. Arthur rubbed his head and was surprised to find a blood-soaked bandage around it. He had some on his arm and chest too. He took one off. Underneath was a neat bullet hole in his shirt, but there was no wound.

'Yeah, I bandaged you guys up. You were going to bleed out. So I put those on. Uh, why were you bleeding?'

'Krueger shot us. But once he was out of the dream, they were just dream wounds.'

'Still hurt like a bastard, though,' muttered Eames.

Ariadne intervened. 'Will you guys stop griping and give Sarah some space?' Sarah was lying back on her bed, her wide-open eyes the only hint that she was not still sleeping. They all trooped downstairs. Sarah caught the tail end of their conversation.

'I must say, I was impressed by the way you handled him.' Arthur to Ariadne.

'Thank you.'

'You were... more professional than I thought you would be. Would you consider staying on the team? Sort of part time?'

'Of course.' Sarah could hear the smile in Ariadne's voice.

Bringing her attention back into the room, Sarah saw that Jareth was sitting on her desk. He had wanted to tell her something, but she didn't know if she still wanted to hear it.

'Jareth-' she began, just as he said 'Sarah-' They both stopped, embarrassed. It was a pity, thought Sarah, she was almost getting used to Jareth as a good guy.

'Maybe-' her voice caught. 'Maybe it would be better if you just left.' She couldn't meet his eyes.

'Sarah, I will go. I will leave you in peace. But first, I have to say something. I...' He sighed. 'I'm sorry, Sarah.'

She sat up, startled. It was the last thing she had expected. She began to say something, but he cut her off with a wry smile. 'I don't apologise often, Sarah, at least let me finish.' She nodded. 'I apologise for declaring war on you and your friends. I apologise for drugging you with the peach.' It was as though once he had started he couldn't stop. 'I apologise for the bog, for the fireys, the cleaners. I'm sorry for the way I treated you. I was reacting without thinking. But-' Sarah frowned. A conditional apology would be just like him. 'I would be lying if I said that I was sorry for taking your brother.' Now he couldn't meet her eyes. 'If I had never done it, I would never have met you. And, whatever else I may have said, may have done, I loved you. I still love you. That's why I came to you. To apologise.'

Sarah was speechless. She stood up and went to him.

'Thank you. For saving my life.' She looked up at him, and hugged him tightly. He held her close, wanting this moment to go on forever, knowing it couldn't.

Hesitantly, Jareth stepped away. 'I have to go. I have to thank Dream, I have to get back.'

Running a hand through her hair, Sarah decided. 'If you ever want to... come back and see me, you're welcome any time. If you want,' she finished, sounding a little less sure than she had hoped. He smiled at her. I'm glad you accepted my apology. I will see you soon. Until then, farewell. And good night.' His shining, smiling mismatched eyes were the last thing to fade.

Sarah fell asleep, knowing that this time, she was protected.


	14. Epilogue

Epilogue

The throne room was empty except for the roiling ball of nightmare in one corner. Occasional shouts emanated from it, and then a long scream.

A little while later, the Corinthian stepped out, wiping the blood off his swiss army pen knife blade. Chewing noises came from his face, but when he spoke, his mouth wasn't full. 'A little overcooked, but not half bad,' he said to no one in particular. He waited a while longer. 'Should have healed by now. Time for the second course.'

The Corinthian stepped back into the nightmare, and the screams resumed.

**AN: What do you think? Please RnR!**


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